KARACHI – Pakistan, presently exporting halal foods to most Middle Eastern countries, is also making concerted efforts to enter the potentially lucrative Halal market in Kuwait and attempting to address the vexing issue of hygiene standards.
During the third session of Pakistan-Kuwait Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) to be held in Kuwait on January 17, Islamabad will also seek the relaxation of Kuwaiti visa policy which, according to sources, was hampering bilateral trade.
According to sources in the Pakistani Embassy in Kuwait, the JMC is going to be held after a gap of over seven years; the second session of the commission was held in 2003. The session, they said was also important in catalyzing a growth in exports through various steps. Particularly alarming has been the fact that Pakistani rice, which once had a dominant share in rice exports to the Middle Eastern nation, has declined in the last few years.
Pakistan is presently exporting $11 million worth rice out of the total export of over $87 million to Kuwait. Besides, despite exporting rice, textile items and leather items etc to Kuwait, Islamabad is in a highly disadvantageous in terms of the present trade balance between the two countries. This is primarily attributed to the ballooning and already massive import bill of oil.
“A very important sector which could help the position of national exports to the oil rich country is the Halal food sector,” sources noted. They pointed out that, “as Kuwait and other Middle Eastern countries are importing Halal food from France and other western countries; they would certainly grant market excess to Pakistan if the requisite quality standards are met”.
The outstanding issue remains the hygiene standards designated by the Kuwaiti authorities, which are authorisation of food imports unless vigorous international quality standards are met by Pakistani exporters. As an increasing number of Pakistani companies have begun to raise their quality standards to the international benchmark; the Islamic country may permit the import of Halal food products from Islamabad, sources revealed.
To promote the country’s products, the ministry of commerce, through the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) is organising the visit of a trade delegation to Kuwait for attendance in an international food exhibition to be held in Kuwait.
Islamabad is also looking towards a positive response in regard to other goals. Beside the promotion of trade with Kuwait, Pakistan is also attempting to convince the members of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to implement a free trade agreement (FTA) between the GCC and Pakistan. In this context, it is also attempting to win over the Kuwaitis to support its proposal in the forthcoming ministerial level meeting, sources pointed out. Furthermore, during the revived JMC, the partners will also look into the implementation status of bilateral trade agreements and understandings, signed previously to enhance the bilateral trade.
It is pertinent to mention that, beside important commercial links between the two Islamic countries, the number of Pakistani expatriates in Kuwait has almost doubled over the past five years, with a total of 153,000 who are living and working in the foreign country.
